NASA Activates Roman Coronagraph for 3 Months of Exoplanet Imaging Tests
Updated
Updated · Science@NASA · Sep 1
NASA Activates Roman Coronagraph for 3 Months of Exoplanet Imaging Tests
3 articles · Updated · Science@NASA · Sep 1
Summary
NASA powered on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Coronagraph Instrument on Sept. 1, completing the activation in 55 minutes from 7:27 a.m. to 8:22 a.m. EDT.
The instrument is designed to block starlight with optics, masks, mirrors and sensors so Roman can directly image faint planets and dusty disks around nearby stars.
A monthslong calibration campaign comes next before full science operations, with 3 months of planned coronagraph observations spread across the mission’s first 18 months.
Roman’s visible-light imaging is meant to push beyond the hot, young super-Jupiters seen so far, targeting older, colder giant planets in closer orbits while the telescope also hunts planets through microlensing and transits.
Could NASA’s new starlight-erasing instrument be the ultimate key to finally photographing a habitable, Earth-like alien world?
With 2,300 microscopic mirrors adjusting in deep space, what happens if this delicate starlight-blocking technology encounters unexpected cosmic vibrations?